posted at 9:51 pm on August 4, 2010 by Allahpundit

Let’s see. On the one hand, the scanners are a useful tool in detecting the sort of explosives smuggled onto Flight 253 by Abdulmutallab, and therefore a valuable weapon in the war on terror. Which of course is why Napolitano is expanding their use. On the other hand, airline passengers are understandably self-conscious about dangling their goods in front of the local TSA screener but perhaps willing to do so in the interest of not being blown up in mid-air. Our dilemma: What can we do to freak out the public to the point where they’ll demand that the scanners no longer be used, thereby imperiling everyone?

The U.S. Marshals Service admitted this week that it had surreptitiously saved tens of thousands of images recorded with a millimeter wave system at the security checkpoint of a single Florida courthouse.

This follows an earlier disclosure (PDF) by the TSA that it requires all airport body scanners it purchases to be able to store and transmit images for “testing, training, and evaluation purposes.” The agency says, however, that those capabilities are not normally activated when the devices are installed at airports…

William Bordley, an associate general counsel with the Marshals Service, acknowledged in the letter that “approximately 35,314 images…have been stored on the Brijot Gen2 machine” used in the Orlando, Fla. federal courthouse. In addition, Bordley wrote, a Millivision machine was tested in the Washington, D.C. federal courthouse but it was sent back to the manufacturer, which now apparently possesses the image database…

A 70-page document (PDF) showing the TSA’s procurement specifications, classified as “sensitive security information,” says that in some modes the scanner must “allow exporting of image data in real time” and provide a mechanism for “high-speed transfer of image data” over the network. (It also says that image filters will “protect the identity, modesty, and privacy of the passenger.”)

The only reason I can think of to save the images is to preserve evidence in case the TSA screener on duty … utterly fails to detect the hidden explosives in the image and the suspect somehow makes it onto the plane. Is that what this is about — making sure prosecutors have something to show the jury in case some jihadi actually makes it past the checkpoint and is subdued during the flight? Obviously you don’t need the image if you nab the guy during the pre-flight screening since you’ll recover the actual explosives themselves. What the sam hill is going on here?

Update: To clarify, obviously you don’t need the images if the guy’s subdued during the flight either. But having them would prove whether he brought the explosives onboard himself versus whether they were planted there by some other party. Is that what this is about? It can’t be.

Comments

The only reason I can think of to save the images is to preserve evidence in case the TSA screener on duty … utterly fails to detect the hidden explosives in the image and the suspect somehow makes it onto the plane

C’mon AP. they’re saving the *.jpg files to put up a new “Hot or Not: TSA Edition” page somewhere….

Not surprising. Those scanners are a total waste. If other airports run anything like our local one using those machines is optional. Do people actually think someone carrying a bomb will go in the bomb sniffing machine line? Do people think someone hiding a weapon will go in the body scanning line?

Got pretty far in the application process with the TSA once upon a time. I can’t say much because its confidential, but the xrays they look through are downright jibberish. It’s a wonder they see anything. Im all for any tech that helps them screen better and faster.

Get me the hell out of line, and you can have all the naked pictures you want.

And Arizona reminds everyone of Nazi Germany?Look at the TSA lines! We have the oppression of a nation captive to PC and a few thousand creeps.

They took a $1 box of matches from my CHECKED luggage. The type of matches were in little square boxes. Not the big strike anywhere types. They took a penknife from my daughter which was fine but the lady who caught her was overjoyed. (It was a very nice knife.)

I have seen the elderly get hurt trying to comply.

What is wrong with dumping that whole joke? I say just take out a Muslim city every time we lose a plane.

Good Lord, you mean they kept a picture of my smokin’ hot body?! I feel so violated. But knowing that my rights were violated so that Muslims wouldn’t feel racially profiled makes all the skeeviness seem alright.

Now, I tend to be pretty, shall we say, immodest with my nakedness, but even I have a problem with this. Because it’s not by choice with these schmucks….

They took a $1 box of matches from my CHECKED luggage. The type of matches were in little square boxes. Not the big strike anywhere types. They took a penknife from my daughter which was fine but the lady who caught her was overjoyed. (It was a very nice knife.)

I had a tiny little pair of children’s scissors ( you know, the kind you buy a little kid) so that I could do a craft on the plane. You couldn’t hurt ANYONE with those stupid things. Yet, oh, yes, those pathetic idiots took them away from me because they were a banned item. Even though the TSA website basically says, “Scissors – metal with pointed tips and blades shorter than four inches – Carry On YES”

In addition to the aforementioned fourth amendment issues, three problems come to mind…

First, a Miami TSA employee physically attacked his colleagues after being scanned and repeatedly taunted about the size of his wee wee. Professionalism is not high on the list of requirements at the TSA. This stuff will find its way on to the internet. If there’s a market for upskirt pics and toilet cams someone will get off to this stuff as well.

Second, what about women who are pregnant but might not be aware of it? Perhaps zapping their bodies with x-rays might not be the best thing for the developing fetus?

Lastly, I can’t wait until the first female Muslim air traveller is offended and refuses to be scanned. You know TSA will let her fly anyway.

There is legitimate reason for saving images – They can be used to train new operators, diagnose false alarms, and assuming that someone actually beats the system – they can forensically go back through the images and determine how the system has been defeated.

Of course, trusting the TSA to treat images as ‘sensitive’ and private and ensuring that the operators are mature and professional – well, we’ve seen how that works…

Another reminder that many running TSA are as unqualified and inappropriate in positions of responsibility as Kagan on the Supreme Court. Both obviously see the citizens as their playthings and little more.

Most people are not reading the first paragraph – this has nothing to do with flying or airports – it happened at a COURTHOUSE. I swore I would never go near an airport again because of this and now I have to duck jury duty too ??? This is really disgusting and I’m sure every pervert in the country has already applied for a job manning those disgusting machines.

Simple solution is to combine the TSA with the SEC then dissolve the results. No point in having two agencies whose primary purpose is to view porn on the job whether of internet or DIY origin. Given the abysmal state of junk justice, the Prop 8 activist and the typical litigation lottery that such an abomination happened at a courthouse shouldn’t be surprising.

The TSA scanners are capable of recording and transmitting the images. That’s probably a standard feature on these things. Now, there ought to be a debate on whether and how long copies of these images should be stored, and to whom they can be transmitted to. And there’s no debate that they should not go outside of the TSA system, unless there’s a court order.

Get it in your heads folks. Flying on a plane isn’t a right, it’s a privilege. You buy a ticket for that privilege.

Been in Airport Management for 35 plus years, and questioned this equipment from day one. Primarily, because the TSA has been countering every complaint with the same excuse, we can not save the images, the operator is not on scene to know who they are actually screening, etc.

However, the equipment was designed to save the images, because if an illegal item is detected then a image to meet the reasonable cause rule of law. Therefore, to take any subjectivity out of the equation the machine takes a snapshot without any action on the part of operator. The role of the person screening the person in the machine is to identify the area where the suspicious object(s) are, so during a full search the TSA screener performing the pat down can be guided by the Scanning technician where to look and request further disrobing for full discovery.

Also, using this new equipment as the primary means of screening means every one entering the airports Sterile Area has a picture on file in a server at the airport.

The equipment is more useful as a secondary screening method. When the passenger triggers the Walk Through Metal Detector then send them through the Full Body Scanner to conclusively prove the person is not trying to smuggle something into an airport or airplane.

This is just a preview of what will happen to our medical records under Obamacare. If Obamacare becomes entrenched you can bet all branches of the government will have unlimited access to your records and any potential employer will be able to obtain the same by paying a hundred bucks to a private investigator.

Thus, we will be put in the place where we will be intimidated from disclosing to our doctors confidential sensitive informmation regarding our health because we know it would soon become public record. No way under Obamacare would I disclose if I thought I was suffereing from depression, had a drug or alcohol problem or disclose that my parents suffered from some genetic aliment.

I’ve said all along that images will be saved, time-stamped, and correlated with passenger manifests and security cams. Of course it will be abused, like everything else. None of this will deter a competent, organized attack. Everyone is kidding themselves and giving up their freedom and dignity.

The only way to stop all the potential catastrophic disasters is profiling and mirror winning strategies such as Israel’s. This will never happen and mayhem will ensue.

Having the images would be helpful if there was a successful terrorist attack. In the aftermath, investigators would like to be able to go back to try to figure out where the system failed. Another commenter mentioned operator error, and that would be one possibility. Another is if a new method is devised to get through security under the current standards. Being able to go back and try to figure out how that was accomplished would be invaluable.